Formerly Radicalized Muslim Explains Encounter With the Taliban, Decision to Fight Terrorism
Mubin Shaikh was a radicalized Canadian Muslim, but after 9/11, he says he had a dramatic change of heart and became an undercover agent, dedicating his life to the fight against terrorism.
“I got bit with the jihadi bug,” Shaikh told TheBlaze in New York City Tuesday night. “[I] radicalized and recruited other young people to this singular narrative. ‘There is a war on Islam. What are you doing about it?’”
But after a “chance encounter” with AK-47-wielding members of the Taliban in Pakistan, Shaikh said he decided that flying airplanes into buildings full of civilians was the wrong path, and decided he wanted to fight radicalized terrorism — as a Muslim.
In the interview, Shaikh also argued forcefully that it is not that American Muslims don’t condemn terrorism but that the media does not adequately amplify their message.
“You’ll see anti-[Islamic State] demonstrations taking place… a basic Google search even will show you how the mass majority of Muslims condemn terrorism,” he said.
“Even those that do speak out — they aren’t going to get the platforms,” he added. “It’s the crazies that come on that say, ‘we hate America.’ They’re the ones who get the media. I think that’s the problem. Not that they are not condemning it. It’s that we are not listening when they do it.”
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